


Proof of a friendship

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Blood Drinking, Blood and Injury, Captivity, Developing Friendships, Embarrassment, Gen, Hurt Simon Lewis, Insecure Simon Lewis, Jace Wayland is a Herondale, Kidnapping, Parabatai Bond, Parabatai Tracking, Protective Alec Lightwood, Protective Jace Wayland, Roommates, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 02:00:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19714012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: “Sorry, I wasn’t going to come in person but you wouldn’t answer your phone,” Jordan panted. “It’s Simon. He’s missing.”Jace smoothly interjected. “Did you see who it was or where they took him?”“Shadowhunter’s,” Jordan said. “Yes, I’m sure. Nobody else has marks like yours. We were just walking down the street and someone called his name so he turned around and suddenly three Nephilim were pulling him into a van and driving off. I couldn’t stop them.”After a moment of parabatai tracking, Jace and Alec shared a single image. A wide-open space, construction, chains, runes, a bright fire in the corner, the muffled sound of sizzling and screaming and laughter, pools of blood. Before they could look any deeper, it was gone and they only had one thought left in their minds.North.





	Proof of a friendship

**Author's Note:**

  * For [@CreamRose169](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=%40CreamRose169).



> So, this is for @CreamRose169 who asked for something pretty much like this, I hope this is what you wanted and that you enjoyed the little spin I put on your request and that I did most of what you asked for in my own way. It was a little tiring to write, but it's finished, so I hope it's more-or-less what you asked for.
> 
> I love Simon so so much and even though this was a bit of a hassle to write at times, I still liked the end result.
> 
> And before anyone pulls me up on it, yes, I know that realistically the Mark of Cain would stop anyone from physically attacking Simon, but I didn't include how any of the torture happened so you can assume what you wish. It's up to your interpretation. I pretty much only included it... well, you'll see.
> 
> Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy it for what it's worth. A little long, but I hope it's interesting the whole way through.

Jace and Alec were spending time in the weapons room of the Institute, cleaning the weapons that had been discarded after long nights of use, when the doors slammed open and Jordan barged in, Shadowhunter’s with weapons drawn following closely behind. “Jace? Oh thank god, I’ve been looking for you for ages.”

“Do you… know this werewolf?” Alec asked Jace, gently moving his fingers over to the handle of a recently cleaned blade. The other Nephilim had their weapons pointed at Jordan’s back, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

After a moment of confusion, Jace realized that he did indeed recognise him, and waved away the Shadowhunter’s at the door and placed a hand on Alec’s. “Simon’s roommate.” He explained and Alec instantly relaxed. “Praetor Lupus. What are you doing here?”

“Sorry, I wasn’t going to come in person but you wouldn’t answer your phone,” Jordan panted. “It’s Simon. He’s missing.”

“Missing?” Alec explained. “What do you mean, missing? Aren’t you the one supposed to keep an eye on him to make sure this doesn’t happen?”

Jace could see that Jordan was getting worked up, so he smoothly interjected. “Did you see who it was or where they took him?”

“Shadowhunter’s,” Jordan said. “Yes, I’m sure. Nobody else has marks like yours. We were just walking down the street and someone called his name so he turned around and suddenly three Nephilim were pulling him into a van and driving off. I couldn’t stop them.”

Alec and Jace exchanged a glance. “We can’t let Clary or Izzy know,” Alec said and Jace nodded in agreement. “We might be able to find him. Do you have something of his that we can use to track him?”

Jordan reached into his bag and pulled out a neon coloured comic, and passed it to Jace. “I don’t see how your tracking could be any stronger than a werewolf’s nose.”

“That will probably come in handy when we’re on the street,” Jace agreed as he Alec began to _parabatai_ track. “But for now, this is going to at least give us a general direction.”

After a moment, Jace and Alec shared a single image. A wide-open space, construction, chains, runes, a bright fire in the corner, the muffled sound of sizzling and screaming and laughter, pools of blood. Before they could look any deeper, it was gone and they only had one thought left in their minds.

 _North_.

They ran, two as shadows, one as a wolf with its nose to the ground, until Jordan paused near an alleyway. Jace moved beside him and couched down until he was eye-level. “What?” Jace asked. Jordan growled and stalked deeper into the alley and that’s when Jace saw Simon’s backpack dumped in a puddle, dirty water slowly seeping into the fabric. “Well, this isn’t good.”

Alec took the bag from him and after unzipping it, began to medically go through its content. Eventually, he pulled out Simon’s phone and turned it on. “Four missed calls from his sister, a text from Clary, a call from Izzy, one from Raphael and a reminder to take out the bins for his apartment.”

“Popular kid,” Jace took the phone from Alec and slung the bag over his shoulders.

By the time they finished running, they were exhausted, and Jordan was growling at the warehouse with its lights still on and shining brightly from the inside. Jace could see a few silhouettes through the windows and with the heightened senses his runes gave him, he could hear a few Nephilim guarding the perimeter. Not many, but more than Jace would like.

When their tracking was sure that Simon was inside the building, he crouched down to Jordan, who was snorting and growling deep in his chest and rested a hand on his back. The wolf tilted it’s head to him in acknowledgment. “If we go in to get Simon, can you hold off and distract the guards?”

For the first time, Jace realized why they described particular grins as wolf-like.

“We’ll meet you back at your apartment when you’re done,” Alec called out after him, hoping his voice was heard by the wolf and the wolf only. When he turned back to Jace, he was already moving towards the building, a seraph blade already glowing in his hand. Alec hurried to catch up to him. “What are we going to do if it really is Shadowhunters who have Simon? Are we going to kill them?”

“Hopefully we can get Simon out without being caught,” Jace said as he made his way towards the doorway. “But if fighting can’t be avoided, I won’t hesitate to put them in their place.”

Slowly, they entered the warehouse as quietly as they could, their weapons drawn and at the ready by their side, and were pleasantly surprised to find that the warehouse was empty. In the distance, there was a howl, and many shouts of angry men, which meant that Jordan’s distraction was working.

As they snuck through the safe house, eyes and ears open for any sign of wayward Nephilim, they were so concentrated with their task that they almost completely missed him if it weren’t for the scent of burning flesh.

Simon was strung up with metal chains embedded with Christian crosses and Stars of David that seared into his flesh, faint streams of smoke floating upwards from where the symbols met skin, holy water dripped from the ceiling to land and burn the exposed parts of his topless body, his torso covered in lashes and cuts and lacerations and his whole body covered in so much blood that they could only tell that it was him from the glowing symbol on his forehead.

They stood there for a moment too long, stunned, before they both dropped their weapons unceremoniously to the floor and rushed forwards to pull him down, yanking at chains and undoing locks and gently lowing him to the ground. The scent of smoke drew their attention momentarily to a once-burning blazer that was lazily sending smoke into the sky. Alec placed his fingertips to his neck subconsciously and swore when he realized that it would be no use. He put his ear next to Simon’s mouth instead, a risky move, hoping to hear some breath, but he was met with worrying silence. “Nothing,” Alec said, getting increasingly angry. “We have to get him out of here and hope that he wakes up.”

“We have to move quickly,” Jace said as he gathered up their discarded weapons and slung Simon’s arm over his shoulder, Alec on the other side. “He’s lost a lot of blood, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a midnight snack before we get the chance to look him over.”

Surprisingly, they didn’t encounter anyone as they made their way out of the compound, a little slower now with their precious cargo but no less hastily, and if the howling from the distance meant anything, Jordan was still doing a good job with his distraction.

The whole way back to the apartment, Simon was a dead weight swinging between their shoulders, and they couldn’t help wondering if they were carrying a lifeless man through the streets of New York. Well, more dead than usual.

Thankfully, Alec went digging through Simon’s dirty and damp backpack to successfully retrieve a set of house keys that perfectly fitted into the lock of the apartment door, and they pushed their way inside. The apartment was a _mess_ , more so than it usually was, which was somewhat surprising, and there were scratches and claw marks and broken pieces in the plaster from where something heavy had hit it. Jace flipped a chair over the right way and they lowered Simon’s limp body into it, his blood staining the blush cushions. “What the hell happened here?” Alec asked as he glanced around the room.

“I don’t know,” Jace grunted as he stood, his torso coated in Simon’s blood. “What I do know is that we need to find where he keeps his blood bottles because if he wakes up starving, I don’t want to have to fight him off before I become a walking-talking blood bank.”

Alec busied himself with wetting a cloth and gently wiping away the slowly-drying blood that had begun to flake away from Simon's skin as Jace went digging through the bedrooms in search of some clothes for Simon, but the bedroom too was a mess. “He looks pretty bad,” Alec called out from where he was crouched down at Simon’s feet. “We might have to give him stitches, or wrap him in bandages at least.”

“Well, this isn’t my house, which means I have no idea where any of those things are,” Jace replied. He saw the little mini-fridge besides Simon’s bed and opened it in hopes of finding some chilled blood or something else just as helpful, but the fridge was hopelessly empty. “Check the fridge for any raw meat that Simon can squeeze the blood out of because believe you me, his place is drier than a-”

He was cut off as entered the living room to see Alec, once kneeling by Simon’s feet now with his face red and his hands cawing at Simon’s fingers that were tight around his throat, eyes red and fangs out.

Jace rushed to Alec’s side and fell to the ground in an attempt to pry Simon’s fingers away from Alec’s neck, but as Jace predicted, a vampire’s strength was much too powerful for a mere Shadowhunter to beat. “Simon,” Jace said carefully, torn between Simon’s hungry face and Alec’s slowly purpling one. “Stop. It’s _us_. You need to stop.”

Slowly, slower than Jace would have wanted, the hungry red glow faded from Simon’s eyes and one by one his fingers unwrapped from around Alec’s neck and the Shadowhunter fell to the ground, hunched over and gasping. Simon lent back against the chair, eyes distant, fingers clenched on the arm of the chair. He didn’t speak, but his body language and the expression on his face spoke for him, and they knew how regretful he felt.

Torn between going to Alec and going to Simon, Jace ultimately placed a hand on Alec’s back and began to rub gentle circles into his _parabatai’s_ tense shoulders as he heaved. When Alec was finally feeling like he could get air into his lungs again, Jace helped him sit up and they both looked to Simon who hadn’t moved, still as a statue. Jace pushed Alec towards the kitchen to get himself a glass of water and maybe look for any blood in the fridge, but that left him alone with Simon. Tentatively, Jace put a hand on Simon’s knee, who didn’t react at all to the contact. “You’re fine,” Jace told him. “Don’t worry about it. Alec’s alright, you didn’t kill him, and I would really appreciate if you don’t kill me either.”

“What are you doing here?” Simon grit out, the first words he had spoken since they had taken him out of the compound. “Why did you come and get me?”

From the kitchen, Alec tossed Jace Simon’s backpack, the zip still mostly undone, and went back to his glass of water. “Because Jordan came and got us at the Institute and told us that a bunch of dirty Nephilim kidnapped you off the side of the road.” Jace opened the zip the rest of the way and riffled through it again, despite knowing that it was a futile effort. “By the Angel, man, you really need to do a better job of keeping your blood supply socked up. You haven’t got a single _drop_ in this whole place.”

Simon closed his eyes and leant his head back against the couch. “We were on our way to get more when they grabbed me, so it’s not like I was completely oblivious to running low,” Simon took a useless breath. “And you know that wasn’t what I was asking.”

“Then what were you asking?” Jace demanded, throwing the bag on the ground and looking up at Simon through his hair. “If you’re asking why I took time out of my very busy schedule to save your ungrateful ass, I’m still asking myself the same thing.”

Alec spared Simon from answering as he re-entered the lounge room with a bucket of cold water and some tea-towels. He held his hand up when it looked like Simon was about to speak. “No need to apologise. You were hungry and weren’t in your right mind. Do you think you can keep a hold of yourself until we get you some blood?” Simon nodded and Alec dropped the bucket on the ground, water sloshing everywhere, and tossed Jace a towel. “Good. Jace- get cleaning. I need to figure out how bad the damage it.”

Diligently, Jace took the towel without a word and began dipping it in water and gently wiping it across Simon’s torso. He hissed every time the cloth slid over gaping wounds and tender skin hidden under all the blood and kept trying to reach down to grab his own cloth to help, but once Jace finally got fed up, he slapped Simon’s hand away. “Can you just sit still for one minute? Let us take care of you. Stop _squirming_.”

Eventually, Simon stopped resisting their help and let them do what they had to do. The wounds were deeper and more violent than they had previously anticipated, and with such little blood left in his system, and no blood around to replenish it, they didn’t have much chance of him healing it on his own. The veins that showed under his pale skin, more pale than usual despite the blood, were stark black from hunger. His eyes were sunken and now and again they lost all focus. “Do you know what they wanted from you?” Alec asked as he rinsed his bloodied towel in the bucket.

“If I knew what they wanted with me,” Simon grit out, his fingers still gripped the arms of the chair tightly and his fangs involuntarily flashing out from his gums every now and then, but he seemed to be keeping his hunger under control, so they didn’t worry as much as they probably should have. “I would have told you, and I wouldn’t be worrying about what might happen next.”

“Well, what I know,” Alec grunted as he stood up and wiped his bloody hands clean on his pants. “Is that you need blood, and fast, and I’m not too keen on giving you any of mine.”

Jace held his hands up. “Don’t look at me,” he said, despite nobody actually looking at him. “I want to be a walking blood-donor even less than you do.”

While Alec was busy rolling his eyes at his parabatai, Simon squinted his eyes open just wide enough to look at them. “And Clary? What did you tell her? Judging by the fact that she isn’t here with you, she either didn’t like what she heard or you kept her away for her safety, which I couldn’t blame you for.”

With his back to them, Alec just shook his head as he washed his hands in the sink. “We didn’t tell her anything. We didn’t want her to worry and get herself involved when we had it handled. When we get out of here, we can let her know, and then you can have your happy reunion.”

Relieved, Simon closed his eyes again and dropped his head back. “Good. I want her to hear it from me. That’s the least I could do.”

“We would have told her, but we didn’t want her getting herself killed,” Jace said. “I love that woman, I truly do, but sometimes she lets her emotions get the better of her and doesn’t think before she acts.”

As Jace too moved away from Simon’s side to join Alec at the sink, Simon grunted as he adjusted to a more comfortable position and ran a shaking hand through his hair, body tense with pain and hands clenched in the fabric of the chair to keep himself in check. “That just makes my previous question more confusing though,” he admitted. “Now I understand even less why you risked your lives to come for me. You two, of all people.”

The door slammed open before they could reply, their weapons at the ready and Simon suddenly wide awake, but it was only Jordan who closed and locked the door behind him, carrying a large plastic bag. “You guys really should have locked this, who knows who could have followed you here.” He said, marching to Simon, who had now relaxed as much as he was able to again, and shoved the plastic bag into his chest. “Here- I made sure to bring enough.”

Reaching his hand into the bag, Simon pulled out an IV bag filled with glistening crimson blood, and he had barely managed to get it securely between his fingers before his eyes flared red, his fangs flashed out from his gums and he drove straight into the bag. Jordan patted him on the shoulder before he beckoned Alec and Jace out of the room with him.

Even with the closed-door separating them from Simon, they could still hear the grotesque, disgusting sounds of him sucking the blood from the bags like his life depended on it- which it kind of did. Jordan turned to them, leaning against Simon’s bed, and sighed. “Well, it looks like we all got out of there alive.”

“Looks like,” Jace said, crossing his arms. “It’s a good thing your distraction worked, otherwise we all could have kissed our beating hearts goodbye.” He placed a hand on Jordan’s shoulder. “You’re not hurt at all?”

Jordan shook his head. “A few cuts and scrapes, but they healed up by the time I got here. I stayed close enough that they could still see me but far enough away that their weapons couldn’t hit me.” He met Jace’s eyes. “And I was right. They were Shadowhunters. Nobody else’s moves and fights like the way you do. The marks… they were runes, but not ones I’ve seen you wear. No, this was something different, something I never learnt in my studies.”

“Did you get any information out of them?” Jace asked, turning his head slightly as he watched Alec anxiously pacing back and forth across the small room. “What they wanted with Simon? Who they work for? Do you know what happened here?"

Snorting, Jordan made an incredulous face and shook his head. “I’m not sure what kind of Downworlders you hang out with, but as far as werewolves go, when we’re running through the wood as a big dog, we can’t exactly have a full-blown conversation with our attackers. Maybe Simon heard them talk about their plans when they took him?” He shrugged sadly. "As for what happened to our apartment, they must have come and trashed it while we were out looking for him. I'm not sure if they rook anything- I'll have to go through it all later on."

“That's not good to hear, but that's the least of our problems. He already told us that he doesn’t know anything,” Alec stopped in his pacing to turn to them and waved his hands around instead. “But I don’t think there’s anything we can do that the Clave won’t be doing a thousand times when we notify them. Right now, I want to know why Simon is so _surprised_ that he was rescued and so sure that we would be the last people to do so.”

Sighing through his nose, Jordan shrugged, pushing his way off the end of the bed. “I don’t know, sometimes you guys can act a bit prickly towards him. For the longest time, even I thought you didn’t like him. I’ll... go talk to him.”

As the door shut behind him, Jace and Alec exchanged a glance filled with a thousand words yet none at all.

When Jordan made his way back into the living room, he found Simon sitting just where he left him, looking considerably better than he had when Jordan had arrived. Most of his wounds had healed entirely and the rest would be sealed by the end of the night, and there was the flush to his cheeks that said he had just fed rather well, and Jordan knew that if Simon had finished all those bags, then he defiantly had. He cracked his eyes open when Jordan walked in and leant against the wall. “How are you feeling?”

“Oh, you know,” Simon said sarcastically. “I’ve just being kidnapped by a bunch of evil Shadowhunters, strung up and tortured for their entertainment and then almost _killed_ Alec just because I was so hungry and drained of blood that I couldn’t differentiate friend from food, so yeah, I’m just _peachy_.”

Rolling his eyes, Jordan pushed off from the wall and made his way closer to Simon’s chair. He wasn’t afraid of Simon lashing out. Compared to a Shadowhunter, a werewolf had a better chance against a vampire, Daylighter or not. “I know that you’re pretty freaked out right now, and I understand and believe me, Simon, we will talk about this. Later, when you’re ready, we’ll talk, and I’ll be here the whole time. But right now, I want to talk about what you’re not telling me.”

Simon stiffed. Not much, but Jordan noticed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sighing, Jordan decided that it was better not to beat around the bush, especially at a time like this, and just rushed in headfirst. “You’re embarrassed.”

“Of _course_ I’m embarrassed!” Simon snapped, which was so strange. Simon wasn’t usually one to snap at his friends- he was so gentle and kind and honest that even him getting angry at all was a strange thought, but Jordan knew him well, and knew that sometimes, his emotions got away from him when he needed them most in check. “A vampire, the _Daylighter_ , just got _kidnapped_ by Shadowhunters, and then Alec and Jace had to come and rescue me like I was some weak _Mundane_ who couldn’t take care of himself. A vampire. Overpowered by _Shadowhunters_. I couldn’t even fight them off. It was like I didn’t even try! What’s the point of being stronger than them if they can just pick me up and chuck me into the back of a van without breaking a sweat?”

Now that Jordan understood a little more, he sighed and crouched down by Simon’s feet similar to where Alec and Jace where before, resting his chin on the arm-rest. “Listen, you shouldn’t beat yourself up about this. There was nothing you could have done.”

“Right,” Simon sounded so bitter that it actually pained Jordan to hear it. “Because being captured is an initiation that all young vampires must go through to earn their fangs and blood-sucking tendencies.” Frustrated, he waved his hand at his bedroom door, where he knew Jace and Alec were behind. “And out of all the people you could have gone to, you went for _them_? Why them? And why did they come? They don’t even like me!”

“Well,” Jordan tried, remembering the Shadowhunter’s betrayed and offended words from before. “Maybe we’ve both underestimated them. Maybe, they do like you and just have a pretty crappy way of showing it.”

Simon scoffed. “Yeah, because making fun of me on a daily basis and acting like my entire existence is exhausting to them is really how good friends show that they’re actually friends. Not, you know, being kind and treating me like an equal.”

“But we’re Downworlders, Simon,” Jordan said. “They’re Shadowhunters. Even if they try, we’ll never be their equals We’ll always be lesser. Let’s take Clary and Isabelle out the equation, even Maya and Raphael and Magnus and your sister. Let’s pretend they don’t exist for a second. No other Shadowhunter in that Institute or Downworlder on the streets would have been willing to come and save you, yet those two did, despite apparently not liking you. Why would they risk their lives for you if they didn’t like you?”

“To earn brownie points with Clary and Izzy?” Simon grumbled, clearly frustrated. “To prove to the Downworld that not all Shadowhunters are completely heartless monsters? Maybe they need me and want to keep me alive until they don’t anymore.”

Jordan held up a hand to shut Simon up, and reluctantly, he did. “Have you thought about, even for a second, that they came to get you because they were worried about your wellbeing and wanted to make sure their friend survived the night?”

“For being friends they have a really strange and painful way of showing it.”

“I suppose the fact that they’re showing it at all is a blessing. Otherwise, they would have left you there to die.”

Simon’s nostrils flared and for a second his eyes glinted a bright, dangerous red, but then he blinked, and it was gone. “Why are you on their side? I thought you hated Shadowhunters, them most of all. On a daily basis, you tell me how much of a stuck-up prick you think Jace is who doesn’t deserve the gifts given to him.”

Knowing Simon was absolutely right, Jordan closed his eyes and breathed slowly through his nose for a moment before he opened them. “And I still do. I still think that Jace is a self-entitled, self-centred brat who expects everything to be handed to him on a silver platter and that Alec thinks that just because he’s in charge of the New York Institute and dating a warlock that he can boss everyone around, but Simon, they came when nobody else did. When I came to them and told them about you, they stopped everything they were doing and came with me to get you out of there. They didn’t drop you in a ditch somewhere to rot or for me to find you the next day, but they brought you here and took care of you until I could get here. They may be a couple of jerks, but after tonight, they’ve earned my respect. Whether they keep it is yet to be seen, but for tonight, they’ve got it.”

Jordan knew when he had him when he watched Simon sink back against the chair, defeated. “What are you saying? That you’ve changed your mind? That they’re better than you thought?”

Smiling sadly, Jordan placed his hand on Simon’s arm. “No. I’m saying that maybe they actually do like you, and just have a crappy way of showing it. And if you still don’t believe me, then maybe you should ask them yourself. I’m sure they’re busting to come in and talk to you.”

Looking a little detached, lost in his own mind, Simon sighed through his nose, and after all this time it was still so weird to Jordan to see a vampire breathing voluntarily. “I’m not so sure. I think to them I’ll only ever be that useless mundane who always got into everyone’s way, and that’s all I’ll ever be.”

Pursing his lips, Jordan patted Simon's arm as he stood up and made his way towards the bedroom that Shadowhunters were taking refuge in. When he closed the door behind him, he turned to face the Shadowhunters looking at him expectantly. “Well?” He said, stepping away from the door. “Out you go. Your turn.”

Jace looked like Jordan had just sprouted wings and a second head. “ _Us_? Talk to _him_? What about?”

“Well,” Jordan stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his feet as he thought. “Definitely not about anything that happened tonight. I’ll talk about that with him later when we’re alone and he’s had more time to process it all. But, he confided in me that he doesn’t know why you saved him and that he thinks that you really don’t like him.”

Annoyed, Alec threw his arms up in the air and gripped his fingers in his hair, tugging at the strands. “Why does he think that? We’ve done nothing but try to be kind to him and treat him like an equal and then he turns around and questions why we do what we do? How is that fair?”

Jordan held his hands up in an attempt to placate the Shadowhunters who were obviously getting very worked up. “I understand, which is why I want you and talk to him. I tried to convince him but he didn’t want to hear it. He’s heard my side- now it’s your turn. Just go out there and explain to him that you don’t hate him anymore.”

“Anymore?” Jace spluttered. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? We’ve never hated him.”

Stepping aside, Jordan ushered them towards the door as they swapped places. “Don’t tell me that, tell him. He’s the one who doesn’t believe you, not me. Come on, out you go, don’t keep him waiting.”

Sending a final silent glare back at Jordan, both Jace and Alec made their way into the lounge room, where Simon was gipping onto his side like his insides might come tumbling out as he tried to stand. “Whoa, hey, what are you doing?” Jace demanded as he rushed over and helped Simon sit back down in the chair. Alec joined him on the other side and with some visible effort, rested a gentle hand on Simon’s shoulder.

“I’m not an invalid,” Simon hissed through grit teeth. 

Alec and Jace exchanged a look. “No, but you’ve been through a lot tonight, and the least you could do is let us look after you if you’re in pain.”

“Yeah,” Jace joked to try and defuse the situation as he pulled Simon’s hand away from where it was wrapped around his side to see the injury underneath. “Clary would kill me if she found out I let you die on my watch.”

Simon rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, we can’t let that happen.”

Frowning, Alec squeezed Simon’s shoulder and reluctantly the vampire looked up at him. “Hey, I know we don’t always show it in the best way, and maybe that’s partly because you’re the first non-Shadowhunter individual we’ve had such close relations with and that we’re still learning, but you _are_ our friend. And we’d like to think that we’re yours as well. We might not be the best at showing it, but we care. We really do.”

Thankfully, Simon didn’t look as sceptical now, but Jace could still see the doubt behind his eyes. “Listen, Simon. My first friends were Alec, Isabelle and my father, and I was in love with Clary before I was friends with her. I haven’t had a friend like you that wasn’t family in a long time, _ever_ really, so I guess it’s just a little difficult trying to remember that just because Alec finds my jokes hilarious-”

“I don’t,” Alec interjected but Jace continued on, ignoring him.

“- that sometimes I forget that I can be an… an acquired taste to some.” Jace finished. “So maybe we’re not going to be best buds straight away or have sleepovers and braid each other’s hair, but just know that right here and right now, we are friends whether you like it or not.”

“Me too,” Alec agreed and Simon turned his eyes to him. “I may be cold sometimes but being all warm and gooey isn’t exactly how I am with anyone. I don’t hate you. Neither of us does. Yes, it’s true, sometimes you can be an obnoxious pain in the ass, but that’s what we love about you. And it’s got nothing to do with you being useful or an asset- it’s about us liking you for being Simon Lewis, not for being the Daylighter.” He paused, thinking his next words over. “And honestly, if my sister likes you, I’m willing to take her word for it. She’s not easy to impress.”

Simon was silent for a few, tense moments where he stared into space, lost in his own thoughts, panting through his pain. “Oh,” he said eventually, quietly, like every word he said shocked and pained him more than the broken ribs and torture did. “Alright. If- if you say so.”

Laughing, Jace reached into Simon’s backpack and tossed him his phone, somehow unscathed and with many more notifications of missed phone calls and messages on the screen. “Well, you better call your sister and then let the others know that you’re alright. And if you survive that, we’ll get you to bed.”

Closing his eyes, Simon made a face at his phone as Jace dropped it into his hand. “Oh right. I forgot. I was supposed to meet Becky for lunch. She’s going to chew my ear off for not calling her.”

Alec patted Simon on the shoulder as he pulled away. “We’ll give you some privacy then.” Jace followed him out of the lounge room and back into Simon’s bedroom, leaving the vampire alone.

They found Jordan lying on Simon’s bed, one of Simon’s comic books held idly in his hand, the covers bent in a way Simon would hate if he ever found out, and he lowered it when they walked in. “So? How’d it go?”

“Crisis averted,” Alec reported. “He’s just gotta call back his sister and let Clary and Isabelle know that he’s alright, and then he should be good.”

Sitting up, Jordan beamed. “Great. When he’s done, I’ll help you get him to bed. He may be a vampire with super-fast healing, but he’s still probably in a lot of pain, and I don’t necessarily trust him on his own right now. Thanks for all your help guys, I don’t know what I would have done without you here.”

“Well, actually,” Jace began and before he had even said the words he felt Alec’s agreement and support flowing strongly through their bond. “We were thinking about staying here tonight. You know, just in case Simon needs us. If that’s alright with you, of course.”

Snorting, Jordan stood up and tossed the comic on the bed. “Of course, don’t be silly. It’s the least I could do. I think we have some sleeping bags and a blow-up matrice in the cupboard. I’ll just go check.”

When Jordan opened the door, Jace and Alec had to quickly cover their mouths to keep from laughing at the one-sided conversation they heard from the other room.

“Yeah, Becky, I know, I should have called you. I’m really sorry. No- no I’m fine. _Kidnapped_? No, why would you ever think such a thing, that doesn’t happen in the real world? Alright, _fine_. No! Torture was not involved. I mean, maybe a little, but I’m fine! Don’t use that voice on me, Becky, you know I can’t resist it. Because you’re scary! Ok, I’m sorry, I take it back. My apartment, why? No, _Rebecca Lewis, don’t even think about coming over here or I swear on all things holly…!”_


End file.
